Abstract

The cultural heritage of India is developed on the one hand by the intuitional science of Tantra and on the other by the religio-philosophical schools of the Vedas. Tantras deal with the worship of female deities as well as with various male deities. We also have works known as Tantra, belonging to various sects e.g., the Śaivas, the Śāktas, the Vaiṣṇavas, the Gāṇapatyas, the Sauras etc., depending on the worshiped deity. In this write-up we will concentrate exclusively on the Śākta-Tantras. Śākta Tantra or Śaktism is named so because preaches the worship of Śakti, God in Mother-form, that creates, sustains and destroys the world. Śakti is conceived as the personification of primordial energy and the source of all divine and cosmic evolutions. She is the dynamic aspect of the Absolute, called Siva-Śakti, where Siva is the static aspect. Śakti is here considered as endowed with all aspects of life viz., creative, dissolutive, sensual, sublime, benign, horrific. This implies that she is everything. From a thorough discussion of the concept of Śakti, the Absolute for Śaktism, it appears that in Tantrism the Female Principle is placed in the highest position. She is the Mother-Goddess. This in turn has raised the position of woman, since not only the female principle has been given the status of the Absolute and treated with utmost respect but even the ordinary woman irrespective of caste and creed is also worshipped in Tantrism. It is also believed that only by worshipping Śakti, the mother-Goddess, one can please the Gods and will get all the good things in return. This recognition towards the female principle reminds us of the modern trend of women empowerment. The Western concept described as Feminism, a term first used in 1872, is concerned with a worldwide movement to secure the complete equality of woman and man regarding human rights: moral, religious, social, political, educational, legal and economic. In the present discussion I shall proceed with my humble efforts to establish that the modern trend of respect and equal treatment for women, technically called Feminism, is deeply rooted in Śāktism long before the creation of the modern term.